Back on Her Feet
by RockingCass12
Summary: Everyone is damaged, everyone is scarred. Lucy Heartfilia knew for sure that her career as a dancer won't go beyond teaching hooligans and their fiancés. Although private lessons with a overly hyper dense pinkette does make her re-think of her capabilities. Will she ever trust her own two feet again? And will he be the one to help her? /On a temporary Hiatus/
1. Chapter 1

**Well I'm not sure where this came from and I told myself I shouldn't juggle different stories but if I don't listen to others what are the chances I listen to myself? Sigh… Stupid me. I do get writers block easily from a story I just updated so I think it's a good solution to have different stories to keep myself from getting bored.**

**I'm not really positive how long this story will be but I thought it be original to the many fics posted like hourly on this site. I hope this will be original…**

**Well here goes ahem… I do not own Fairy Tail or the characters of Fairy Tail, nor do I wish to make profit for this story.**

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><p>Early one autumn morning the day started like any other for every other citizen that lived in Magnolia. Well except for some. Near the edge of the town next to the local fishing docks laid a dancing studio called Dancing Hearts. Situated upstairs was a joined apartment to the studio. It was charming and sweet owned by woman who was just as charming and sweet, Lucy Heartfilia.<p>

As we peer into the apartment this autumn morning the young woman woke up early to get her tasks done before her clients arrived. As she slumped out of bed and dragged her feet to her kitchen to put on her favourite appliance in the house, the coffeemaker. As she waited for the machine to brew her miracle juice she peeled off her clothes and jumped into the warm inviting shower. She stood there a while to let her sore joints soak. Once she pried herself away from the shower she changed into her tights, jersey and ballet shoes. She combed her damp blond hair and twirled it into a dancer's signature bun. Once satisfied with her appearance, she although too eagerly dashed to the kitchen to make her coffee.

That was her regular routine for who knows how long. Three years ago when she first came to Magnolia she was 21, her ambitions were set to be a young entrepreneur. It was indeed a hard challenge. Her father had disapproved of her not going overseas to study with the best choreographers, so asking for money to open a business was a challenge for the young blonde. She was one of the best instructors in Fiore and has been given a variety of opportunities to work with successful studio entrepreneurs or offered to perform nationally and internationally. She turned them all down just for one small, although thriving, business.

The sun was peaking over the buildings of Magnolia, it was slowly reaching the bottom half of the building. It was 6:00 am and Lucy walked down to the studio to start her personal warm ups. The light from the sun reached the lower half and blindingly shun on the polished wooden floor. Turning the blinds downward she could see the studio without being blinded from the morning sun. She sat on the floor with her legs outstretched and her toes pointed. Her flexibility was impressive as she placed her legs in a horizontal position and stretching her arms and torso down the middle. Getting up she walked over to the beam and placed a leg at a time, her face moves slowly to her knee keeping her leg straight as possible. Particularly when she does her left leg she winces slightly. Next she was turning her ankles in circles and pointing her foot in front of her. Putting on right hand on the bar she outstretched her left arm over her head and repeated the motion with the other arm.

As she continued with her stretches she heard the studio open and close she looked towards the door and smiled to see her friend and fellow dance instructor.

"Morning Loke. Welcome back." She said.

The orange haired man smiled back and set his kit near the changing room. "How have you been without my help Lucy?"

"Perfectly fine! I don't know why you were so worried when you left." She said leaning against the bar folding her arms.

"Because you work yourself half to death." He said with an annoyed expression.

"Nonetheless you shouldn't worry about me on your honeymoon." She grumbled.

"Aries was worried about you too you know" he smirked at her.

Lucy placed her hand on her forehead wiping the sweat off form her warm up. Loke proceeded to the men's changing room to dress into his gear (which sounds manlier than tights).

"Oh you would never guess who Aries and I ran into!" he yelled from the changing room.

"Santa Claus" Lucy joked.

"The quarter Jewish part of me is offended" he said with a teasing voice.

She rolled her eyes at his humour and replied seriously "Fine who did you see on your honeymoon?"

"Yukino Agria"

Lucy was taken back a little, she was hesitant to answer but,

"How is she?" she asked

"Pretty well actually, although… she really misses her partner."

"…Her partner misses her back" she said with a small smile, her eyes downcast and voice low.

Loke walked out the dressing room and saw the young blonde thinking. He chuckled a bit and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You know you both made good decisions. She's happy, your happy with what careers you chose."

"I didn't choose anything. I decided to play the coward and stay behind." She said in a angry low tone.

Loke frowned at his partner "Are you upset you didn't do what she wanted to achieve? Is being here doing what you love cowardly?"

Lucy listened to his point and smiled. Her face lifted from the floor to the orange haired man. "You know I hate it when you cheer me up in less than 5 minutes. Are you sure you're in the right profession?"

"If you're asking me to be your personal shrink, I deny." He joked.

She shrugged his hand off her shoulder and punched him playfully in the arm. Lucy looked over to the wall clock which read 7:15. Her first clients would come in another 45 minutes. But she would have to warm up with Loke because the clients requested tango lessons and Lucy always prepped for each of her lessons. Lucy went to fetch her red flowing dress for the practice and lesson. Unfortunately she forgot her changing kit upstairs.

"Darn, wait a minute I have to get my kit." She told her partner but was abruptly stopped.

"How's your leg this morning?" he asked in a serious tone.

Her eyes flickered to her left leg and sighed. To be honest the coming winter would be difficult on her leg but she thanked the celestial beings that she had such a caring partner. The look on her face told Loke everything.

"Where is it?" he asked smiling.

"Near my bedroom door." She said smiling back.

The young man jetted off upstairs to receive her bag and came back in a flash. She took the carry on and changed into her Red Latin dancing dress. The slit was on her right hand side revealing such a muscular thigh and calf. Her dancers legs were one to be proud of, she had been dancing since she was a little girl. So no doubted if she were to kick you, you would take flight to Edolas.

Lucy walked up to the mp3 player on the wall and played the set track. Lucy and Loke go into one of their familiar positions. As Loke rested his hand on her back she countered by holding his arm and both holding each other's hand. As the rhythmic music started Loke lifted Lucy into the air as to start the routine. Once landed straight away Lucy followed Loke's fast feet work, leading her around in circular motions. Her feet as well as following her partners flicked in different rhythmical patterns. As he would do the same. He spun her fast and recoiled her back in an attitude like manner. The two were in harmony as they danced in quick movements. As the song ended the two were breathless. A slow clap formed behind the pair by the entrance door. The two turned around to see a young pink haired man with a cocky smirk plastered on his face.

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><p>And I know someday that'll turn out. You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out. And I promise you, kid, that I give so much more than I get. I just haven't met you yet.<p>

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><p><strong>Not a big chapter I know. But the next one will be longer! My next update will be "Salamander the great" then "Same outcome". I'll try keep that pattern going.<strong>

**For all the fans a review will be appreciated and a vote on my poll for "Same outcome"**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter twooooo. Well it kinda took a while to get my ass in gear with updates. I'm just happy I got some inspiration back. So I have to use it while I can. Plus I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I know from the first chapter I was very vague on lots of things but I assure you keep reading and the mysteries will be revealed later on in the story. So please tolerate me and my sadistic side of keeping you on suspense. **

**Just a little note that this is, without a doubt, nothing besides NALU centric. So no funny pairing ideas as you read this. I follow the firm pairings Hiro established such as Nalu Gruvia Jerza Gale and etc.**

**I'm trying out my serious side of mine and get it onto paper (or virtual paper at least)**

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><p><em>A slow clap formed behind the pair by the entrance door. The two turned around to see a young pink haired man with a cocky smirk plastered on his face.<em>

Loki removed his hands from Lucy's waist and looked at the young man with an eyebrow arched. Lucy was still a bit breathless and the site of the handsome man didn't help her situation.

When she caught her breathe she finally spoke "You must be my 8 o'clock. Nice to meet you."

The young man flashed a wide grin containing a lot of goofiness and by the looks of it his canine sharp choppers added that factor. She wanted to hold in a blush but she let it be since she's hot by the early outburst of energy on the dance floor, she figured he wouldn't tell the difference. His onyx eyes met hers. The colour reminded Lucy of warmth for some reason which was odd considering it was nowhere near being a warm and vibrant colour. But that's what the colour was telling in his eyes. Lucy had to peal herself away from his gear and speak,

"Oh uh you must be our 8 o'clock." She repeated out of nerves. The pinkette just nodded a yes.

The man was a bit early but she didn't mind since she wasn't occupied with another student. She looked back to the peculiar pink haired man and outstretched her hand for a friendly business-like handshake

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I'll be your dance instructor."

The pink haired man gave her a goofy grin and replied "Hiya my names Natsu Dragneel."

She went to the counter desk in the corner of the studio to check her book. She had noticed something peculiar which was two separate lessons for the same couple.

"So uh it's just you for 8:00?" she looked up to Natsu who was standing next to Loki. Her eyebrows furrowed at look of Loki's discomforted face. She's known him for a time now and he doesn't give that look often, maybe almost never in actual fact. She drew her attention back to the pinkette instead.

"Um yeah, my partner has a whack working schedule so we agreed to come at different times." Natsu said. He had noticed too the look he was getting from Loki and shifted uncomfortably. Lucy was slightly irritated at her dance partner and ignored the tense atmosphere.

"Well I see you got a kit with you, the changing rooms are behind you there and then you and **I **can get started."

The pink haired man wanted to chuckle slightly at her subtle yet not so subtle sentence to get her partner more irritated. He shifted his bag on his shoulder and turned on his heel to the changing rooms. Lucy waited the last second till he entered and turned to her _friend_,

"What was that?" she huffed.

"What was what?" Loki said acting like she didn't know what she meant.

She brought her fingers to her forehead and pinched the bridge of her nose "You know what I'm not in the mood for you being weird so I won't ask again."

Loki huffed a defeat and looked at her straight in her doe eyes "He was looking at you funny."

Her eyebrow raised "He looked at me funny? That's fine let him maybe he can get a laugh or two."

He groaned loudly at her naivetés "No not like that I mean he-"

"Yosh! I'm ready Sensei!" the pinkette bursted from the changing room interrupting the two.

"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt." Natsu awkwardly felt the tension in the room and gave off a sly smirk. "Oh I see you guys are-"

"NO WAY! He's married!" Lucy yelled pointing to Loki's left hand. Natsu laughed extremely loudly. The blonde blushed immensely and looked over to Loki who was fighting the urge to laugh too.

She glared daggers at the pinkette and turned to Loki. "Go prepare for your lesson while I teach."

Loki looked down at the blonde in serious matter and nodded his head and complied with the blonde instead of making a scene that she shouldn't be here alone with the pink haired man. Loki went to the other room to practice and Lucy clapped her hands together to indicate the beginning of the lesson.

"Right so you guys requested Tango right? But first you got to be honest with me- Do you know the basics of dancing with a partner in general?"

He looked at her blankly and tried to understand what she meant "You asking if I know how to dance?" he confirmed.

"With a partner" she added.

His neck was turning a slight pink and was climbing up on to his face tinging his cheeks. He raised his arms and scratched the back of his neck out of embarrassment. "I try but all I do is injuring girl's feet."

She giggled at his confession as he went more red by the second she tried to ease him up by some words of encouragement "It's fine I can teach you. We'll start with the basics and move onto the tango basics kay?"

He nodded agreeing with her plan. She took a step closer and grabbed his hand which almost freaked him out by her speed of things. She placed his hand onto her back and grabbed his other hand and kept it in hers.

"It's simple; all you have to do is lead the movements. If you step forward then I step back." He did so and took a rather large step which was too far back for her to step thus making him step on her foot.

"Sorry!" he freaked out. He didn't hear a yelp out of her nor her screaming insults at him. He looked up and saw her face had cringed from his action. She did speak up,

"Don't panic its fine. I get it every other day but what I will say is relax. I'm sure you heard it before but the man takes the lead in dancing. If you feel the woman in leading you got to take back control. If you feel me leading then don't follow because it'll give me no choice but to go your way. You're in control of our movements so don't make yourself uncomfortable by taking large steps. Take small one to start with."

He looked down at his feet to watch his actions. He took a small step forward and she followed him but moving back. "Good, now take another step forward" which he did and she again took a step back. "Now do it backwards"

He looked down again at his feet and did as she was instructed and managed not to squash her feet under his. He looked ecstatic as he did the moves without fault.

"Hey I did it!" he said in excitement like a child. She smiled at his excitement and hoped to keep the enthusiasm going

"Good now we'll start off with one of the first basics of tango." She started to say by letting go of Natsu and walking up to mp3 player to get her playlist out and start playing music. The fast Latin beats filled his ears and he tapped his foot to the rhythm of the song. She turned around to see him doing so and laughed slightly.

"Great you already got step one down"

"Huh?" he said stupidly

"To dance to the Tango you have to be in sync with the Music's rhythm." She walked back to the pinkette and went into the dance position. She moved in even closer to Natsu, embracing him almost and moving his hand to the lower part of her back.

"W-wait! What are you doing?!" he said jumping back away from her.

"Don't let me be misunderstood..." She said vaguely. "…is the name of the song." She clarified. His face was priceless she had to admit, the heat of his face could not be hot enough from embarrassment.

He looked at her with his pink flushed face and as confused as hell. She although responded by giggling at his outraged pink face that of which matched his hair. "Tango requires partners to be close silly." She said to make him understand her actions of moving closer just now.

His face still leaked embarrassment; he gulped hard before walking back into position. He gulped when his hand had to go back to where she positioned it before he jumped.

He kept looking down at his feet subconsciously, her finger went under his chin to lift his head, and they were face to face which even made Lucy's face heat up slightly.

"Posture is important, if you slump the risk of hurting yourself and me while we dance are high. When you look down too often it makes you slump so try avoiding looking down all the time." She instructed. He gulped but nodded his head.

"Alright time for the pace. While we dance the timing is- slow, slow, quick, quick, slow."

She let go of him to dance by herself to demonstrate. She positioned herself as if Natsu was there, she walked backwards going according to the pace she told him and called out which speed she was doing "Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. And so on. Understand?"

"I do, but knowing me this will take some time" he laughed

She smiled and gave him a cocky smile "Not with me as your teacher."

She moved back into Natsu's arms, which gave her a flutter sensation in her chest but she ignore it and continued "The steps I'm going to teach you is the basic tango choreography. Let's start" she chirped.

"Step forward with you left" which he did. "Step forward with your right now" his feet did with her following his lead.

"Good now left forward again… and now to the right with your right." He did to her instruction. "Now finally bring left foot to meet you right to put your feet together." He did the last movement to her instruction.

"Brilliant Natsu you just did the basic tango movements."

His face lit up into a big goofy childish grin. She felt her heart thump with the genuine smile. She coughed to grab her own attention back.

"Okay now that you know the pace and the steps let's put them together. So step forward with your left and right but it must be slow" he did the movements again at the pace. "Now left forward and right foot right fast" he did as she told him "Then last, meet feet together slow." Which he did.

"Good. Now do it without me telling you, lead me."

His eyes widened at her instruction, he got all panicky and as if like magic all the instruction she gave him was slowly exiting his mind. He looked to his feet out of nervousness. She coughed to get his attention.

"Don't look down. If you mess up don't panic, I mean you're here to learn not to take meaningless instructions you have to get right on the first try right?"

She offered a warm smile which made him smile in return. He waited for the right time to step in the song and he stepped forward to start the routine. The first time he did it without her instruction was a little sloppy but he kept going, repeating the steps and by the time he did it for the fifth time he did comfortably. He stopped and pulled away and screamed a "Yosh!"

"Oh my gosh you're a brilliant teacher you know!"

Her cheeks turned tomato red from the compliment she did fumble replying "Any dance instructor would've done it."

"Nu-uh you're the third person that's tried to teach me and you lasted longer."

Wait what? He went to two other studios and they couldn't teach him the basics?

"Ha ha yeah shouldn't have told you that. It doesn't matter though" he chuckled to himself. He looked over to the big clock in the room "I got to get to work. So must I pay you in advance now or-"

"Oh no only by the third lesson. It's our guarantee if you're not satisfied with our teachings by the third lesson you don't pay"

"Pretty generous of you. Alright see you same time in a few days." He said grabbing his kit and heading out the door.

"Don't forget to practice!" she yelled at him as he left.

The blonde brought her hands to her cheeks and felt the heat radiating off them. She had never been this flushed since high school. She heard the door open from the next room to see her gingered haired partner. He frowned slightly at her which kind of pissed her off.

"What now?" she groaned.

"I'm looking out for you okay. The guy is probably here to take lessons which probably his fiancé made him do for their wedding."

"Don't play big brother. I was teaching him, nothing more."

"Okay whatever but I know you and you really are hoping he's single."

Her mouth pursed into a tight line, he did hit the nail on the head. She couldn't deny that was the thought going through her head when they were close together as his hands were holding her securely, the man's smile that gave her a thump in her throat. The stranger was definitely making her pulse going.

Loke sighed dramatically "When his partner arrives I'll confirm. Promise me not be disappointed in what I find okay."

Bingo, he fell for it. As she planned she waited for him to cave. The young blonde cannot deny her attraction for the pinkette so she'd like to see if she had a shot. Being at her age and being an entrepreneur and teacher she cannot deny she'd like some form of romantic involvement. Being alone in the studio most of her times, most holidays and days off, the lonely nights and empty side of her bed made her heart hurt.

Without the company of someone in the studio, the isolation it emanated fear. Lucy Heartfilia didn't want to be alone. She taught and taught countless idiots and their fiancés week on end and it made her envious. Loke noticed that and in all the time she owned the studio she never found any men single in her classes. She did try to go out and look but the last time she did that she had been stalked by a certain guy fo half a year and had driven her to the point of getting the police involved.

With the glimmer of hope found in her pink haired student Lucy only hoped he was single like she hoped. The spark between the two almost felt like it should be written down in a cheesy fanfiction **(*wink* *wink* XD) **

"I promise I won't be disappointed."

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><p>It had been a long day of lessons and practicing. Lucy at least taught 4 group classes of contemporise and ballet to girls of the age of 6 to the age of 18. All of which was exhausting. She was done for the day but Loki had his <em>last customer <em>coming in now. In the next room she slumped down the wall with a bottle of water in her hand. She sat down and grimaced at her aching left leg and pressed the cool water against where her kneecap is, the cooling sensation relaxed the ache. She heard the front door open from the next door and she pressed her ear to hear the conversation Loki was going to draw out tactfully.

"You must be my 5:00." Loki said turning to the white haired woman coming in. the petite girl smiled sweetly at the gingerly haired man.

"Yes, I'm Lisanna. I suppose Natsu explained we'd be coming at different times."

"Yes I did hear so. You'll be getting the same lessons until when exactly?"

"Just for this week and next week. I work at the pet clinic so hours right now are hectic."

Loki peered down to the blue eyed girls left hand and tried not to frown "When's the wedding" he asked pointing to her finger.

She smiled again sweetly for his interest "In two months."

…

Heart ache went through her chest. She slumped her head onto her right knee. It was a pointless venture. When this usually did happen when she never reacted like the way she was now. But how come did finding out the man she was mildly interested in was engaged make her heart sting like it was doing right now. Unless… she wasn't mildly interested in him.

She got off the floor and hissed at her left legs throbbing. She had to go to the front desk and check her agenda for tomorrow. She stepped into the main studio and saw Loki proceeding on with his lesson with the white haired maiden. The blue eyes of the whitette sparkled as they laid on Lucy. Lisanna let go of Loki and walked up to Lucy quickly.

"You're Lucy right?" she asked excitedly.

"Um yeah…" answered hesitantly.

"Gosh you are my hero!"

Lucy was extremely confused "Excuse me?"

"Natsu is actually happy with his teacher. The last two attempts were horrible. He told me he absolutely loved his lesson."

The blonde blushed at the statement. She offered the whitette a smile back "Oh its no problem at all it just takes some patience."

"You must have a bucket load" Lisanna giggled.

Loki coughed to get the girls attention. Lisanna giggled more "Sooooorrrrry" she sang and sprung back to her teacher. Lucy just shook her head.

Lucy had just remembered that Kinana had left earlier and left sticky notes in the correct regions for reminders and important messages. Lucy would have to see if Kinana had any messages for her. She walked to the desk and noticed the sticky note on the phone scribbled in Kinana's handwriting. It was addressed to her and the number was written under the "_Please call back_" message. She recognised the number well and wondered what was the story this time.

Her fingers punched in the digits of the familiar number and the ring's came to a stop after the third.

"Hello?" a woman's voice answered.

"Mrs Spetto?" Lucy recognised the voice on the other end of the line.

"Oh good it's you Dear."

"Yeah is something wrong? Why isn't dad answering?" Lucy said in a worried voice.

It was strange indeed her father didn't phone her as usual. Since Lucy had moved out her father had made it a custom to phone her once a week. Even though their relationship was a rocky one they both mutually tried to work on their father/daughter relationship. Her father in actual fact had made a big step of selling his railroad company for many dollars and went into early retirement. He did find it hard to adjust to relaxing but he could only find means of occupying himself with middle age hobbies. So Lucy was worried to hear her father's housekeeper phone her with all the spare time he had on his hands.

"That's why I called. I got a call from the hospital and they told me your father was submitted."

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><p>I feel so unsure. As I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor.<p>

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><p><strong>Sooo0 random thing to tell but I got bitten by a spider… on my face… and I found the little bastard in my room and committed murder. Bug murder at least. <strong>

**Oh you must all hate me right now with the engagement. Well just saying don't count your chickens before they hatch! So yeah that's a wrap for now. Hope you all leave a lovely review for mwah. And check out my other NALU stories and I got a poll up. You can get to it on my profile.**

**Oh and last thing is the song I mentioned in here was called "Don't let me be misunderstood" by Santa Esmerelda. It's a nice lengthy song which I think fitted perfectly in here.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone sorry I've been MIA since my last update. But to make up for it I'm giving you this new chapter and tomorrow or Thursday I'll give another chapter of Salamander the great. Sad to inform that 'Same Outcome' will be delayed until I get enough votes on my pole. If any of you haven't read it you can still vote because it is a series of oneshots story.**

**Alright so for the fluffer fans I will ask you to be patient with me on this story because I'm not just hooking our favourite couple up just yet. I'm developing Lucy's and Natsu's character in here as well as bringing their emotions out. But I will say whatever I write in the following chapters are important. So don't miss out, there will still be Nalu soon, stay tuned and enjoy!**

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><p>Clean dull white walls stretched down the familiar hallways. The sound of chattering and beeps filled her ears. The terrible feelings bubbling in her chest had settled in as she neared the ward. Memories of this hospital plagued her mind with and with every step she took she remembered the same amount of tears she shed.<p>

She hated this place, damned be hell she thought she'd return. But if she had believed some force out there was out to get her she'd have fairly good evidence it was. As Lucy was approaching the room her father was submitted in, her headache intensified. Not even moments ago she was gushing over a student of hers, who she just discovered who was engaged, and then she had gotten a phone call by her father's housekeeper to tell her he just had been put into hospital.

Lucy had rushed out of the studio once she heard and asked Loke to lock up when he was done. By the time she left the sky was the colour of red and orange. She hated those colours for again it reminded her of that day. It was all too similar for her liking and the only thing she could do was keep her spirits up (_no pun intended_) for the sake of her dad.

She reached her father's room and saw from the window next to him that the dusk colour sunset was gone and replaced with the darkness of the night. That did ease her slightly but when she laid eyes on her father her heart dropped. The strongest, busiest and most stubborn man she knew was lying in the hospital bed with many tubes in his air passages and all along his arm to receive a necessary drips and fluids. He was also in a body cast, if Lucy had recalled she had seen him maybe a week or two ago and looked absolutely healthy and within that time he got mangled.

"Oh Lucy thank goodness you're here!" Mrs Spetto came up behind her.

"What happened?" Lucy asked softly.

She felt Mrs Spetto's hand on her shoulder. Lucy wasn't going to cry though, she promised herself she wasn't going to cry anymore. It was hard though, the memory was still fresh and piercing.

"He was in a car accident"

…

_**Blackness. It was so frightening and daunting. It was so hard prying her eyes open. Her whole body was twitching yet it felt limp. Ambulance sirens were faded out and got louder as she gained consciousness. The last thing she recalled was getting picked up at her dance class. Driving home and talking about an overseas opportunity and the sight of her mother's glowing beauty as she smiled at her daughter's excitement. Then blank. **_

_**The young blonde fluttered her eyes open and saw something unpleasing. The car had crashed into another. The front of the car almost looked as if it moulded with the other car with missing pieces flown off and the parts that were still on had reshaped itself to fit in with the other car. She tried to sit up to get a better view until pain jolted through her and cried out in pain. **_

_**She bit her lip hard trying to supress her scream.**_

…

Lucy let out a frustrated sigh of impatience. Mrs Spetto soothingly rubbed the young blondes back for comfort. She sat down in the chair next to her father's bed. She and Mrs Spetto sat in silence awaiting Jude's doctor. Lucy was gazing down at her feet and felt her pocket vibrate. She unlocked her phone and saw she got a message from her best friend levy.

"_Loke messaged me and said something happened" _she read softly to herself.

Her fingers glided on the screen to tell her small friend that she'd tell her everything later. A tap came from the door and Lucy snapped her head and saw the doctor.

"Sorry to keep you waiting miss Heartfilia." He apologised looking at her glassy brown orbs. "Your father had a nasty wreck and was very fortunate to come out alive. By looking at his condition now we can conclude that he might not walk again."

Lucy let the hot tears slip out of her eyes. He was so close to dying, she couldn't live with the pain of losing a parent again. She might of not been the closest to her father but she loved him unconditionally. Mrs Spetto looked downwards but spoke up.

"We'll look after him right Lucy?"

Lucy looked up to Mrs Spetto and smiled ever do slightly while tears ran down her face. And now that Lucy went over it, it wasn't the worst situation. Her father can still lead a normal life with the help of her and Mrs Spetto.

"He will have to keep him here until he has recovered from his other minor injuries. Till then keep visiting. He is resting after he came from the operating room. Miss Heartfilia is permitted to stay until he wakes up but you'll have to leave ma'am." He told Mrs Spetto.

She looked towards Lucy with worry and Lucy held her hand and squeezed it while giving a reassuring nod. Mrs Spetto collected her purse and slowly exited the room not breaking her gaze with the blonde woman until she left.

"I'll send in a nurse to get you coffee or tea."

She mouthed thank you to him. She made herself comfortable in the cushioned chair and leaned her head against the wall. She looked at her watch and saw it was only 8:30. She would have to stay the night if they permitted her which means Loke would have to cover her lessons in the morning. She slid her fingers on her screen of her phone and typed him a message.

She heard the tapping of shoes against the tiled white dulled floors. Her brown orbs gazed up to a small girl no older than 18 or 19. Her long blue hair was tied up in two girly pigtails which indicated she was young indeed. Her eyes were very similar to her own but slightly lighter. She was wearing a nurse uniform but looked too small in it like a child wearing adult clothes.

"Um Miss would you like something to drink?"

Lucy shook her head no. The little bluenette felt awkward and looked down to her feet.

"Okay then I'll be g-"

"Please stay" Lucy pleaded "I just need someone with me and other visitors aren't allowed to visit."

The young girl's lip tugged at the corners in a light smile. She walked her way to the seat next to Lucy and sat up straight looking uncomfortable.

"Sorry if this is making you uncomfortable" she apologised softly.

Lucy stared at her fathers bed blank minded trying not to resurface the painful memories. She looked to the blue headed girl who was looking at her shoes "What's your name?" Lucy broke the silence.

"Wendy. Wendy Marvel."

"Nice to meet you Wendy. I'm Lucy."

...

_**She bit her lip hard trying to supress her scream.**_

_**She looked down where the pain was emitting and turned pale at the site of her leg. Mangled and broken. Her tears ran down her face as she slowly felt the pain coming back to her as the adrenaline faded away.**_

_**Sobs and unsavoury sounds came from her lips as she cried. The sirens are getting louder. She turns her gaze out the window to her right and looked to her right to see the worst nightmare come to life.**_

_**Her mother limp and pale. The colour of life not in her, which was once milk white now turned into a lifeless white. Lucy brought her hand to her mother's shoulder.**_

"_**Mom? Mom get up… Mom?" her voice quivered through every word.**_

"_**Mom please. Please get up" she sobbed.**_

_**She let out a terrible heart wrenching scream. Her vision was blurred from the overflowing water coming from her eyes. She kept wailing until someone pried open the car and separated her from the lifeless body which was her mother. She screamed protests not to take her away but the agonising pain jolted up her broken leg and she couldn't decide to scream over her leg or over her loss.**_

_**...**_

"Miss Lucy? Miss Lucy wake up." Wendy nudged her awake.

Lucy's eyes opened slowly and her sight was hazed from her tears. She tried so hard to forget that day yet the deepest most desperate part of her mind wants her to remember. Trying to capture her last moments she had with her mother. Now facing a similar situation the memory reappeared reminding her that things can happen in an instant.

Lucy rubbed the tears from her eyes and got a better view of Wendy's worried face. Most of her features displayed such innocence and made her to look fragile. So fragile the sight of another crying might make her cry. Lucy smiled softly and looked out the window where dawn was upon them.

"Did you stay with me the whole night?" Lucy asked.

"Well I did get you a blanket" she gestured to Lucy's lap. "Otherwise I stayed"

Lucy gave her a hug, more motherly than friendly. She whispered a thank you. She drew away and looked at her father who was getting restless. Wendy walked over to the bathroom in the room and got a cold wet cloth for his forehead to sooth him.

The girl suited the life in the medical profession. She was caring, compassionate, helpful, nurturing and much more. For her to be at this age and have those qualities she will excel in this career.

Career. Lucy's one couldn't go further than teaching woman and their moron fiancés how to dance to the basics. Because she couldn't have the courage to move on to excel like Wendy was doing. She blamed so many other aspects yet she missed the point that only she can be her own downfall or her own success.

She heard a moan come from her father's bed. She jumped to her feet and stood next to her him wanting to be the first person he sees. Wendy had dashed out the room to get the doctor.

Jude opened his eyes and did see Lucy before anything else. His brain isn't processing things fast enough so he gazed the room to fill the missing pieces of his unfinished puzzle.

"Where am I?" he asked in a dried soft voice.

"Papa"

He looked at his daughters face that was stained with tears, he registered that he was in a hospital bed.

"Papa you were in an accident…"

The doctor and Wendy came in and Jude's face hardens like it usually did.

"Lucy why don't you leave while I speak to your father. I'm sure you have work to do so why don't you come back later?"

Jude's expression turned into a sadder one. He gave his daughter a nod for the okay. She walked to him first and gave him a soft kiss to the cheek. And walked out to begin her lessons back at the studio.

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><p>And I never really sleep anymore. And I always get those dangerous dreams. And I never get a minute of peace. And I gotta wonder what it means.<p>

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><p><strong>Yeah its short I know you don't need to remind me. I want to stretch this story for a while so bear with me pretty please! <strong>

**I want to dedicate the chapter to Jellybeanbubbles because she blackmailed me. Yeah she didn't tell me how to dedicate her so I just went for the bitchy path. Mwahaha!**

**And last but not least a reminder to you lovely folks to review and encourage this unmotivated writer. Who by the way will be motivated after she gets reviews.**

**Thanks and happy Tuesday!**


	4. Chapter 4

**It took every ounce of my being to start this chapter. I'm in or rather I was in such a cr*ppy mood that I didn't even want to watch anime. Bad right? So as for this story I am very unsure how long it'll be but I'll make the promise that it'll be over 30 k. I really hope I can make it more than 50 but only progression can tell.**

**I like to give thanks to those who followed, favourited and reviewed this story, it is still such a fresh story I didn't expect a lot of response. Thank you all again!**

**Oh and as you probably noticed is that the name changed from "It takes two to tango" which was a temporary name because I was lazy. So with a new name I hope to see some new followers and etc.**

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><p>It had been several days since the accident.<p>

Things only just declined from there and Lucy for one wasn't trying to improve the situation. When she had returned from the hospital that day she cancelled her morning appointments to sit and mope in her room. Loke had to drag her out eventually and tell her that she had to keep working hard for her own sake.

It was just like him, he always pushed her in more ways than one. Back when they first met each other in high school he pushed her into an uncomfortable bubble when he flirted with her. Several times he would hit on her and constantly wanted to butt into her life. He gave up on her when he found out her past, not for any shallow reasons but he figured she needed a friend more than she needed a boyfriend. After that he pushed her into doing more things to help her self-esteem up or to just plainly have fun. She overworked herself to better herself and he lightened her load so she could push herself even further.

Lucy is grateful for him and felt overjoyed when he got married to his childhood friend Aries. Now that she thought she made progression on looking after herself, Loke shows up again and helps her yet again. She finished her classes that day and the days after that. She visited her father often even though they hadn't said much to each other for each visit. And they certainly didn't open up to another.

It was five days since her father's accident and with the crappy mood she was in this Saturday she wanted to finish this day as fast as possible because tomorrow was her day off. Her morning lessons were exhausting with the tiny screaming girls trying to grasp the concept of ballet. And then she moved onto several couples which made her highly annoyed by the constant bickering between each couple. Loke didn't seem bothered by it since he was such a level headed person.

It was coming to 3 in the afternoon and Lucy was getting restless. Her leg was aching too with the colder weather approaching. Winter was coming fast which meant snow which meant hell. She remembered how painful her leg was recovering during winter and all the winters after that the pain would dull but never leave. She ignored her leg and went to the front desk where Kinana was.

"Kinana what's my next class?"

She smiled sweetly to her as usual and looked down at her book. "A gentleman named Na-tsu? Natsu." She repeated to get the name right.

Lucy's mind clamped up. That's right she forgot about him since Tuesday and well the reminder of him made her anxious. She sucked in a big breath and looked at the clock which told her she had five minutes left. She walked over to the balancing beam to stretch her annoyingly sore leg. She winced but eased up which will last her the rest of the lesson. She heard the door open and she instantly straightened. Her eyes observed the young pinkette and how he had dressed before he arrived which saved a lot of time in her opinion.

He looked her way and smiled a goofy toothy smile which seemed very contagious but she wouldn't budge a smile. His smile died when he noticed it too. She waved over to him to come to the next room, he obliged though confused. He followed her and abruptly stopped when she did, she spun on her heel to face him.

"We'll do some minor stretches because we're going to be working a little harder to meet the deadline you have." She said in a monotone voice. She took a few steps back from him to start "Just do what I do." She said in a monotone voice again.

Natsu frowned slightly but she didn't seem to notice since she started on her stretches. He followed her suite but got lost in his own thoughts from staring at her. Her milky white skin giving off a healthy glow of exercise, her sunny blonde hair tied up neatly in a bun and how it held its place despite how often she moved today. Her eyes fixated on what she was doing at hand and how he remembered how it shun the other day at his first lesson, but today it looked dull and tired. He couldn't stand and bear the lesson if she was like this, I mean he didn't know her that well but he noticed she was a hard working person and with a nice personality and something was clearly bothering her and leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

While she continued to stretch he looked to his kit he brought and remembered he brought an mp3player with him. He stopped his stretches and ran to his kit and scrolled down to a song. She noticed he stopped and went to his kit.

"Can't you wait till after class to text?" she asked annoyed.

He walked to the mp3player console and plugged it in to play the tune he wanted. She stared at him and huffed. Guitar strings plucked in the studio, the familiar tone filled the room. She recognised it straight away when the first sentence came up- "_When life leaves you high and dry I'll be at your door tonight if you need help if you need help_"

Lucy let a small smile form on her lips as she watched the pink haired man lip sing and dance to the tune. He stepped closer and closer to with every beat given and with every lyric sinking in. He was trying to cheer her up, it was slowly working until he grabbed her hand as the chorus came and he spun her around and he danced with her. She couldn't hold it in anymore, she laughed and giggled and chucked her lungs out. Her feet were dangling off the floor and he danced some sort of waltz and a cliché tango move where he outstretched his arm with hers and walked the direction their arms pointed. Loke poked his head at the creak of the door frowning at the fact an engaged man was shamelessly flirting with his friend. He watched them dance and heard Lucy's laugh, the laugh that he didn't hear much in the studio lately. Watching them made his lips move on their own accord into a smile. He sighed of what seemed a sigh of defeat and he closed the door properly.

As the music faded out Natsu set the giggling blonde onto the floor and ran to his mp3 and took it out of the console. He turned to see the bright smile he missed from Tuesday.

"What was that all about?" Lucy asked smiling.

He smiled back "I couldn't stand seeing you sad."

She giggled again "Sorry I didn't want to worry you or to waste your lesson"

Natsu put his hand in front of her to make her stop talking. "Wasn't it me that forced you to dance?"

She smiled shyly and nodded a little. They stared at each other for a while before Lucy had to snap out of her haze and cough awkwardly. He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Um… I don't mean to sound creepy but would you like to hang tonight? There's a bar like down the road from here called Fairy Tail Cabin and I'm meeting up with some friends later. Be great if you'd join"

"Oh Kinana that works at the desk here works there for extra money." Lucy chirped.

"So whatcha say?"

Lucy thought about it and internally her mind was screaming at her. It kept telling her how wrong it was to flirt with this man or even to let him flirt with her. Another part of her mind told her he might just be overfriendly like that. She was replaying the problems of the situation and putting together a good excuse to say no but her mouth went on its own accord.

"I would love too."

He smiled so brightly her thoughts seemed to fade away… Oh the lesson!

* * *

><p>Sunset was approaching and Lucy had finished her day with a bang although she could've done without the over bearing brotherly Loke telling her it's a bad idea to go out tonight. It took a lot of convincing but she won the conversation by reminding him she was his employer and he had no say in her social life. He shut his mouth and gave up knowing he couldn't convince her.<p>

She was told by Natsu to meet him and his friends at 7:00. At closing time she immediately ran (let's say she walked fast because we have to take in consideration of her leg) upstairs to get in the shower. She couldn't help but to linger in the warm rejuvenating water and refresh her sore muscles and joints.

Once out the shower she almost out of habit twirled her wet hair into a bun. She had to remember where she placed her hairdryer. She plated her hair and dried it to get the curls she wanted. That took 30 minutes of her time which panicked her. Her bedside clock read it was 6:15pm. She hurried to her closet to decide what to wear but she groaned at herself for not having the clothes of a young woman should. The cupboard was full of tights, sweats and dancing dresses. She rummaged through and eventually found an off the shoulder top and a pair of black fitted jeans (which she prayed still fit her)

It was 6:50 now and she had finished her face and grabbed her back heels and tried not to trip down the stairs. She began walking but hailed a taxi because of the lack of time she had. The taxi abruptly stopped in front of the bar and Lucy's stomach twisted, only realising now that she was nervous of meeting the pink haired man and his friends and possibly seeing his fiancé too. Oh gosh… what. was. she. thinking?

She entered the buzzing building and notice the size was pretty big for a bar. The building had too levels and the top level consisted pool tables and dark boards along with a smaller bar next to the bar games. The huge bar was packed and she felt uneasy of not knowing a single person around her. It was too late to go home now and she has to find Natsu soon amongst all these people.

"Lucy! Oi Lucy!" she heard a familiar voice.

Natsu budged past some people to get to her. Lucy blushed at his appearance. With his dress shirt buttoned down far enough to see his toned chest made her heart flutter. And from what she could see he looked flustered too, she thought most probably from the heat inside the bar. He grabbed her hand and dragged her past the crowd.

"W-wait Natsu! Slow down!"

They came out the crowd and Lucy huffed from Natsu pulling her. She rubbed her calf and glared at the hyper pinkette.

"Soooorry Luce didn't mean to hurt ya."

The nickname caught her off, not even her friends called her that. She heard someone call Natsu's name behind him and she saw a long table of friends looking at the both of them. Natsu put his hand on her back to nudge her to that specific table. He stood a little in front of her to introduce her.

"Guys this is Lucy. My dance teacher"

Everyone's eyes shifted to her and he had no words to say to them, feeling a tad embarrassed she let out a bashful 'Hi'.

A woman stood up from the table and Lucy really felt inadequate from how pretty she was. Her hair was the best aspect of her. Long and a crimson red and it flowed in the wind without there being wind. She had brown eyes like Lucy's and beautiful features.

"Nice to meet you I'm Erza. Erza Scarlet"

Her voice was a bit deeper than most girls; this made her sound more mature and intimidating.

The boy next to her had no shirt on revealing his toned abdomen and a pendant hung around his neck. His sudden shirtlessness made Lucy hot in the face and look away.

"Dammit Stripper keep your clothes on!" Natsu yelled at him.

The raven haired man seemed cool and collected but as soon as Natsu insulted his his forehead creased and his eyebrows repositioned to an angry expression. The man stood up and walked to Natsu giving him a head butt. They intensely stared at another waiting for the other to hit. Until Erza intervened.

"Behave we have a new friend here!" she scolded

Before Lucy could blink the two were shaking hands and being all buddy buddy. Lucy sweat dropped slightly.

"Anyway I'm Gray Fullbuster." The raven haired man spoke up.

Lucy nodded at the half-naked man who now currently didn't have any pants on!

"Gaah!" Lucy yelled.

Natsu punched Gray straight in the face yelling for him to put on clothes. Erza this time didn't interfere since she would've knock Gray too for the display of nudity.

Natsu puffed out hot air of annoyance and grabbed Lucy's head and turned it to the bar which gave her a fright. He pointed to the bar and more specifically to a white haired woman serving the men there. "That's Mira. She co-owns the place and she's Lisanna's sister."

Lisanna… right…. She'd almost forgot about her.

"Where is she?"

"Coming in later, she works a night shift working as a vet"

Lucy nodded understanding that she wouldn't have Natsu for long. It did feel a little awkward that Natsu's friends were giving him smirks while she was around. It just seemed a little inappropriate in her opinion.

With that in mind Lucy also was still on edge by the group and she hasn't even met the rest. Natsu tugged her to the others at the table. She noticed straight away a couple sitting together and the almost look like polar opposites. The girl was so small and cute with such a happy look on her. She had such petite looking facial features and her hair was blue, short and wavy. Lucy couldn't get over her small size and her boyfriend who seemed to have a protective grip around her waist was huge in comparison to the girl. He was wearing black and grey and had many face piercings and even arm piercings? Was that possible? His look was finished with his long jiggered jet black hair.

"Lucy that's Levy and the big ape who's with her is my cousin Gajeel."

"C-cousin?" Lucy stuttered. I mean she was just thinking of the great comparison between Levy and Gajeel but Gajeel looked absolutely nothing like Natsu. Like no family resemblance at all.

"Who you calling an ape Salamander?!" Gajeel growled in his deep voice which Lucy thought suited very well with his looks.

Natsu let out a laugh to mock his cousin with "Geeez Metal face take a joke."

Gajeel growled again. Levy tried to pry out of his grasp to meet Lucy "Nice to meet you Lu-chan!"

"Lu-chan?" Lucy repeated.

"Think of it as a nickname." She winked.

Lucy giggled "It's not really a nickname since Lucy is actually shorter but I like it Levy-chan." Levy giggled with her.

Gajeel sound annoyed behind them and seemed to mumble something like "Bunny girl."

Natsu grabbed her hand and introduced her to some of the other people at the table. Until Lucy felt someone staring at her. She turned her head to look behind her and just saw the crowd near the bar. She shrugged the feeling off until Natsu spoke up

"You feel someone watching you don't you?"

She blinked at him "How did you know?"

He chuckled and pointed at Gray "Go to him and say hi then look to that pillar near the bar."

She looked at him sceptically and slowly walked to Gray. She stopped by him and gave out a forced hi. Gray looked at her weirdly and said hi back. Lucy looked to the pillar and saw a beautiful blue haired woman glaring at her dangerously. Gray looked in her direction and groaned loudly.

Lucy sweat dropped "Who is that?"

Gray's face was covered by his hand and ignored her question. He got up from his seat to go to the woman who had spying on the group. Natsu chuckled his way to Lucy and the two sat down.

"Who is that?" she asked again.

"Gray's on again off again girlfriend Juvia. They're currently off."

Lucy looked to her new friend speaking to the blue haired stalker. She seemed smitten but Gray's expression was questionable in the least. Lucy looked back to the group of friends and joined in the conversation. Gray decided to join after he spoke to Juvia, who hopefully wasn't still staring daggers into Lucy's back. Lucy was getting along with everyone better than she thought, all that worrying was for nothing. Although her worries had just begun nearing midnight.

"Natsu-san!" A voice yelled across the bar

Natsu let a huge smile rip across his face. "Over here Sting!"

A blonde boy emerged from the opposite side of the bar with a matching grin to Natsu. Lucy looked to the boy and saw some resemblance of Natsu and thought maybe he was family. The two boys shared a brotherly hug thereafter Sting had noticed Lucy.

"Hi, why is someone as pretty as you doing around my cousin?" He flirted

Bingo he was his cousin too. But she had to not think about that she had to deal with Natsu's flirtatious cousin. Well Natsu beat her too it and pushed him hard and growled at him. Sting just laughed at his cousin's actions and waved him off.

"Where's Rouge?" Natsu asked.

"He's fetching his fiancé. He'll be here in ten minutes" Sting said blowing his hair out of his face.

Lucy looked slightly confused of who this Rouge person was. Natsu nudged her out of her dreamland to tell her.

"Another cousin. His brother."

Lucy laughed nervously "I'm being a tad overwhelmed by all these people you're introducing me too." She admitted

Natsu shrugged and waved off her confession assuring her that it's nothing to worry about. Sting tried to hit on her again but Natsu kept intervening and giving his blonde cousin a scary look. Lucy for one was confused since Natsu shouldn't be so overprotective of her, for one they still don't know a lot of another so you couldn't really call them close friends. Nor was she his girlfriend or fiancé because he already had one. If Sting was single it wouldn't hurt to get to know him but Natsu wasn't giving her any chance whatsoever.

Sting kept laughing at his cousin's reactions and being a little over cheery. Lucy sighed and took a sip of her drink until she felt the table bump hard. She almost spilled her drink over and let out a loud gasp. She turned her head to the source and saw Sting and Natsu trying to catch someone's attention. She gazed up and focused on the figures coming towards them.

The one figure she made out was a man near Natsu or Stings age and had dark black medium hair. His pale skin contrasted his skin and dark clothing that matched his hair. He brought a woman with him and was holding hands with her… she looked familiar…

It was Lisanna.

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><p>Take yours and I'll take mine, on the right hand side. I'll rest and you'll find that you take rest in wine. So take these words and make them right. So one day you and I will right our names in the sky, We'll confide.<p>

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><p><strong>Who wants to kill me for the cliffy? I know I would but I need to stretch his mother fluffer out.<strong>

**I was really supposed to post this yesterday but my friends dragged me out the house and were determined not to make me a loner yesterday. Nice friends but eh… I like spending my Fridays reading or writing. I know I'm not a loser at all, in fact I'm the Shit! Or as my cousin would say 'Sugar Honey Ice Tea'. Gosh… ANYWAY!**

**What time is it?**

**Review Time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Writing writing writing oh how I love to write. Enjoy this next chappy and let me know how you like this cause I might suck and not know it. I love writing and Fairy Tail so if I suck I don't mind. :P**

**Heehee now where were we last?**

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><p><em>The one figure she made out was a man near Natsu or Stings age and had dark black medium hair. His pale skin contrasted his skin and dark clothing that matched his hair. He brought a woman with him and was holding hands with her… she looked familiar… It was Lisanna.<em>

But why was she with another guy and no less holding his hand? She looked to Natsu who was only smiling and waving. If they were engaged then wouldn't he beating the crap out of him? The alcohol she consumed felt like it got into her brain and was swirling, what the hell was happening?

As Lisanna and the guy next to her reached the table Lucy stiffened and listened carefully to what was going on. Natsu and Sting stood up and greeted them, the blacked haired watched Natsu carefully as he hugged Lisanna. Well now Lucy could only come to the conclusion that Lisanna and the black haired man had a thing going on. But where did that leave Natsu?

Natsu moved back from hugging her and Lucy felt a hand on her back pushing her forward. She was pushed by Natsu to stand in front of Lisanna which made her extremely uncomfortable.

"You guys already are acquainted." Natsu said smiling.

Lisanna smiled brightly "Of course silly. She's the miracle worker." She joked.

Natsu whined at Lisanna and playfully punched her in the arm. The black haired man next to Sting cleared his throat to grabbed Lisanna and Natsu's attention. Lisanna jumped slightly and giggled. She ran to his side again and pulled him to Lucy,

"Lucy this is my fiancé Rogue." She introduced.

Wait what? She thought she heard wrong but the way Lisanna was hugging Rogue so affectionately from the eyes confirmed her statement. But then that meant Natsu was…

She tried to hide the smile peaking at the corners of her mouth. She felt a good portion of her anxieties vanish. Just the thought of seeing her and Natsu together in that kind of way would just put her down more than she already was. Her little crush on Natsu was growing and she really didn't know why. She hardly knew the guy but he really knew how to light up her seemly dim world by his determination of making her laugh at his lessons or just the way he smiled made the room brighter. Gosh its sounds like she's known him for years, should she have been worried about this type of talking about him?

"And he's my bro" Sting chirped putting his arm over his brothers shoulder.

Lucy looked to Natsu "So he's your other cousin?"

He gave her a toothy grin and his arm brushed hers and he moved closer to whisper in her ear "Yip. I know he looks a little dark and may be a little silent but he really is a great guy. I mean he makes Lisanna happy."

"Come on everyone this next round is on me!" Sting yelled at the table of friends.

They all cheered with excitement. To be honest Lucy wanted to go home but at the same time stay next to Natsu and get to know him more. He nudged her to sit down at the table again. A bar maiden came to drop off the round Sting ordered. Mira was the name Lucy remembered from what Natsu told her. Mira went to go give her sister a hug and stopped by Lucy's side.

"Is the famous teacher Lucy?" she teased asking Natsu.

"Geeez guys we had two lessons. Nothing life changing!" Natsu tried to save his skin.

Mira only smirked at him and giggled. After setting the last drink on the table she sat in the empty chair next to the blonde. Mira was getting up in Lucy's space examining her which made Lucy a tad uncomfortable.

"Do you know how hard it was to find a teacher for my maid of honour and groomsman? Very hard and then heaven sent you!" she cheered and had a death hug grip around the blondes waist.

Bridesmaid? Groomsman?

"You're getting married?" Lucy asked confused releasing herself from Mira.

Mira smiled sweetly at her "Yeah in a month or so. Since Natsu and Lisanna are such horrible dancers I suggested they get teachers."

Lisanna and Natsu both gave a "Hey!" and received a giggle in reply from Mira.

Lucy joined in giggling with Mira and related her experience teaching Natsu and walking in on Lisanna's lesson with Loke. She heard Rogue growl at the mention of Loke's name. Lucy assured him that he's happily married. Lisanna blushed at the protectiveness of her fiancé. Both sisters were gushing over their fiancés which led to rather an uncomfortable topic.

"So Natsu you finally decided to ask Lucy out" Lisanna smirked.

Lucy lost her breathe for a second and choked on her own spit. Natsu hissed at Lisanna which made her and her sister giggle uncontrollably. Natsu stood up ignoring the two and reaching his hand out for Lucy to grab it.

"I bet you're tired. I'll walk you home."

Mira and Lisanna kept silent smiling softly at Natsu. Lucy blushed and grabbed his hand, he pulled her to her feet and shouted goodbye on both of their behalves. He still held her hand as they exited the busy bar. The heat of the bodies around them made move closer to Natsu so they could exit quicker.

Once out he still didn't let go of her hand which made her self-conscious of her palms bring slightly damp. He walked the opposite direction of the studio/apartment.

"Um Natsu the studio is that way." She pointed out with her free hand.

He smiled at her "I know, we're taking the scenic route." He nudged the other way.

She complied although her mind is telling her she shouldn't be with another's fiancé, even though she saw for herself that he in fact wasn't. The fact of the matter was that she was nervous to be alone with a guy to whom she discovered was single. Was it too good to be true?

Hand in hand they walked down the street in silence, Lucy wanted to say she was uncomfortable but really the warmth of his hands made her sigh in pleasure. All of her anxieties she's had in the past month were fading by such a comforting gesture. Normally if a guy would hold her hand for long she would pry it away but Natsu's hand seemed so moulded into hers. She would catch him looking at her every time she looked his side which made her head snap back to the path they were walking on. He was leading her to a neighbourhood park. The lamps lit up the playground and the dull green grass was already covered with frost.

He walked up to the swing set and let go of her hand to occupy a seat. He patted the swing next to her waiting for her to sit. When she did she half-heartedly began to swing with her feet dangling off the floor.

"I like the scenic route." she joked.

He laughed softly and sighed "This was my old suburb when I was a kid so the nostalgia is catching up to me." He said sitting still on his swing seat.

She watched his features and how calm and serene he was. She didn't really know how to make out what he was thinking nor how he was feeling right there. He turned his gaze off the floor and back to the dancer. He smiled forcibly which made her frown slightly.

"So what can you tell me about this place?" she asked.

He looked to the floor again and pondered on how to answer the question. Lucy thought maybe having to hear about another's past would help her forget about her own. The painful thoughts that returned to her so frequently that month was a little more than she can bear. Was she being cruel wanting to hear Natsu's troubles? Would that want of hearing be used for a good purpose or for her own selfish gain? She wasn't sure herself but she didn't really care.

"Twas the best area to grow up in. Erza and Gray lived only a few houses away actually. But my dad and I didn't stay very long."

"Why did you guys leave?" she asked.

He laughed dryly at himself "I'm sorry I phrased that wrong. I meant to say that my dad didn't stay very long."

Her eyes fixated on his face examining and waiting for what emotion he would show next. He only smiled softly though. Why would his dad leave? Where's his mom? Did he stay on his own when he was a kid?

HE coughed and straightened his back before swinging slightly with her. "So when did you come to Magnolia?"

She internally scowled and looked at him with an opposite look of a smile. "Just a few years ago. I lived in Kovern for my whole life."

He nodded while listening "And how you like the sights of the city?"

She hid her face from his sight and slightly mumbled although Natsu hadn't told her he had freakish heightened hearing "What?! You've never seen the city?! So that means you've never been to the Sakura festival." He said I disbelief.

She flinched at his outbreak and looked at him with a raised eyebrow "It's not like I didn't want to okay. I'm a really busy person."

Natsu shook his head and tsk'ed her. "This won't do. So what are your plans on the 20th of March?"

She raised her eyebrow at him "Umm… I might teach a class that day-"

"Nope. You're spending it with me to go to the Sakura festival." He told her.

She giggled at him "Natsu that'll be after the long winter ya know"

"Does it matter? I'm gonna make sure you experience the best festival in the whole of Fiore!" he exclaimed jumping off his swing. She shyly hid her face from his gaze so he didn't get to see the insane blush she had.

"Why don't we walk to the studio?" Natsu spoke up.

She turned her head to see his face, which was looking up at the clear sky. She stood up and stood next to him looking up with him. The stars weren't as visible as she wanted, she felt Natsu look at her and brushing her hand with his own.

"Natsu…" she said looking at him

"Yeah?" he looked away from the sky to her.

"You want to go see the stars better?"

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><p>Arriving at the huge dome shaped building Natsu stuck by Lucy's side seeing how it would be possible to get into the building. Even though he didn't know what the building was he became anxious. They reached the back door at the back. She knocked a few times to get someone to come open. The door opened abruptly with a tall oldish man with a huge ass moustache. He smiled widely at Lucy and covered her in a big bear hug.<p>

"Been a while since you've visited Lucy-san" Moustache man said

"Sorry I've been so busy. But I brought a friend to show him around." Lucy pointed to Natsu.

The moustache man let them in the dome shaped building. Natsu finally discovered of where they were in a Planetarium. The front room they walked through made Natsu remember his days as a kid going on a field trip. The billboards of facts about planets, small scale sized planets, small slide shows of the different aspects of stars. HE thought Lucy was going to stop but she kept walking to the double doors which probably led to the projection hall. She entered the room as casual as ever while Natsu gazed around the large room and saw the ginormous telescope.

"Well it's obvious you've had your fair share of tours around here" Natsu teased.

She smirked at him "I've always been drawn to Planetariums. It's like a 3rd passion of mine"

"Third?"

She strutted over to the panel over to the side of the room "Obviously Dancing would be first but I love to write."

"Wait so are you some super talent woman?" He chuckled.

Smiling bashfully at the compliment she changed the topic "Umm… So what I wanted to show you was this." She flipped the switch on the wall which activated the skylight. It folded itself back revealing the beautiful celestial bodies of the sky.

Natsu couldn't peel his eyes off the sky and how the stars had no space for another and created a heavenly-like light that Natsu's never dreamt of. Lucy walked up to his side and spoke in a whisper tone.

"Do you see why we had to drive all the way here. The lights of the city really dull this beautiful scene."

He chuckled at her whisper tone "Why are you whispering?" he took a step closer to her side.

She felt him come closer and turned her head to look at her face which was inches away from hers. "I don't want to scare the stars away" she said.

He chuckled and her ears vibrated from it. "You're so cute"

And with one lingering touch his hand caressed her faced and brought his lips down onto hers. Under the light of the stars they shared something special of what hoped to be the start of something good.

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><p>Cause you're a sky full of stars, cause you're a sky full of stars. I'm going to give you my heart. Cause you're a sky full of stars, cause you're a sky full of stars. Cause you light up the path<p>

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><p><strong>I split this. So the other half is waiting for all of you.<strong>

**That song by Coldplay was perfect for this chapter right?**

**Leave a lovely review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Creativity… is lacking uggh. I had this already typed up but I wasn't happy with it so I redid it. I hope this one is up to standards.**

**Just a little news bulletin- 'Same Outcome' next chapter will be postponed till the new year. In the meantime my other stories including this one will be updated.**

**Yosh! I hope you enjoyed the fluff of the last chapter and be prepared for more!**

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><p>She wasn't sure what was going to happen that Monday, it felt odd. Maybe it was the anxiousness or her excitement that made her belly fuzzy. Or maybe it was her early morning coffee.<p>

Whilst doing her early morning routine she lacked focus and ended up doing things backwards; namely her coffee was filled into her bowl of oats she was going to eat. Or maybe it was the clothing put on backwards? She had to put her act together before opening the shop but even her feet were betraying her with the countless stumbles, she was extra careful approaching the stairs going down to the studio.

Time was closing in to start her morning warm ups but her mind was still foggy, hence she had to resort to playing upbeat songs through the system to pump herself up. She faintly heard the door open while warming up and slowly trailed her sight to her partner.

Loke looked at her suspiciously, considered her choice in music; knowing all too well she was out of focus today. His frown deepened and he took it upon himself to cut the music. Lucy looked at him with a curious expression; wondering what made her friend so grumpy this morning. He walked up to her to read her emotions and was coming up short, for she was trying hard not to let him.

Giving up he groaned "Just tell me. I can take it, I'm a grown man and you're a grown woman. I won't get mad."

She fiddled with her fingers and bashfully looked at her friend "Um… you have to be a little more specific"

Loke sighed again "Friday. Natsu. What happened?"

She blushed slightly as the whole nights events rushed back to her after the effort she put to keep them off her mind. "Well there's some good news: Natsu and Lisanna aren't engaged."

Loke was taken by surprise and internally smiled, relieved for his friend. Although he studied her face and saw the slight tint of pink on her cheeks. "Is there something else you'd like to tell me?"

Her blush turned from pink to red. Loke was always good at reading people. But with all her might she was not going to be backed into a corner.

"Loke back off just for a moment will you! Like you said, I am a grown woman and I can kiss whoever I like-" she realised to late what she blurted and slapped her hand over her mouth.

Loke was not happy. His brotherly instincts kicked in for sure; with the deepened scowl and the twitching of his right eyebrow. She was ready for the lecture but never received one; instead he made his way to the dressing room and shouted his final words of the conversation.

"If Natsu hurts you; I'll kill him! You hear me?!" he turned to look at her and she smiled at him sweetly, nodding her head.

To be honest, she didn't think Natsu had it in him to hurt a girl. She could just imagine him as a kid, getting upset at one of his female schoolmates and telling her to 'shoo' because he doesn't fight with girls. In another instance he seems like a big brother character by the looks of his relationship with Lisanna, or a little brother to Erza being constantly bullied. Going a step back; he does seem violent with his guy friends so what stops him from having that same relationship with his female friends? What will it feel like when she knows those things as well as the other things?

That's what excites her the most. But at the same time scares her immensely.

Why?

Well wouldn't he want to get to know her too? She couldn't really handle that considering she simply didn't want to remind herself of what a crappy past she's had. No other reason, if Natsu would know, he would probably want to help her without a second guess. But she didn't want help, she didn't want to be constantly reminded and repeatedly receiving the same image over and over again. It was too much to handle back then and it sure as hell hasn't lessened now… maybe more now then back then.

Where to go from here remained a mystery to her and all she could do was play it by ear.

The autumn sun warmed the floors of the studio and blinded her sight of the entrance. She laid herself on the wooden floor, closing her eyes and basked on the warm wood. She replayed the duties of the day in her head and remembered Natsu and Lisanna were finally going to have a class together. Mira-Jane got hold of Lucy the day before and warned the blonde that Natsu might be a bit more difficult during this lesson. Lucy really appreciated the warning but her last remark made her turn pink.

"Natsu will also con his way out of dancing with Lisanna and try to dance with you. Make sure he doesn't! He can have his own private lessons with his favourite teacher."

She sure did sound cheeky with that last comment as if on purpose to make her blush over the phone.

Mira was someone Lucy had to watch out for in the future.

Their lesson was in an hour but first was teaching an elderly couple to waltz for their anniversary. Very sweet indeed. They walked in hand in hand like it was their first date which touched Lucy's heart, watching them bicker playfully or how the elderly man joked and teased about how long he has to 'suffer'. She would only counter back just as playfully but afterwards he would have his arm over her shoulders and look at her so lovingly while dancing.

Lucy had to snap out of the sweet scene and actually teach them, which went faster than she thought. At the end of the lesson the couple paid their fees at the front desk and Lucy was asked a question from the elderly lady that made her mind hit pause.

"A beautiful young woman like you must have a man in her life right?" she winked at her.

Lucy was caught off guard and nervously giggled "You two are too much. Thank you for your business." She slyly avoided the question.

She led the couple out and glanced up to the wall clock. She was getting anxious waiting to see Natsu… and Lisanna of course. Okay that was a lie, she knew that Lisanna and Natsu had nothing between them but she still felt antsy. She went over the reason why and only came up with the reason of having a bad position of who knows Natsu better. Lisanna had an unfair advantage and she felt like she needed to tiptoe around Natsu when he was with his long-time friends. Almost like feeling out of the loop when they spoke of their childhoods.

While deep in thought she didn't notice she was being poked in the ribs. She got startled and yelped unladylike, her reaction causing a familiar laugh to erupt. She looked to the pink haired boy who was mockingly laughing at her and looked over his shoulder to see another figure giggling. She felt warm from embarrassment and punched the boy in the arm; not gently by the way.

"Ouch! I'm sorry" he laughed rubbing his arm.

Lisanna finished her giggles and stood next to the blonde "I'll be honest; I'm scared and excited at the same time."

Lucy blinked "Why?"

"Well; excited to see Natsu's progress… but I'm scared for my feet" Lisanna joked.

"Hey!" Natsu whined.

Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled at his childish behaviour. She started the music through the system and turned to the pair "Right, so go into the normal position"

Natsu held Lisanna but looked rigid and stiff. It looked plain unnatural but Lucy shoved that aside. "Right, so get comfortable and just dance normally so you can get used to your partner."

Natsu took a step forward and Lisanna followed, it was simple enough for either to mess up. After they finished, Lucy instructed them to do the basic tango steps, well… they did try their best.

Natsu tried to repeat the pace pattern out loud but messed up the choreography. The guy was totally useless since it wasn't hard in any sense. So why is he failing so badly? Lisanna was getting frustrated and let go of Natsu's hand and rubbed her feet. Lucy lost track on how many times he stood on her feet or nearly tripped. Lucy wanted to hit him so badly, making her look like she never taught him in the first place.

"Neh Natsu, I thought you said you **didn't** totally suck" Lisanna whined.

"I don't. I do it perfectly fine with Lucy." Natsu grumbled. His head snapped up and he had a more appealing look to his face, by the looks of things he had a good idea. "I know! Why don't I warm up by dancing with Lucy? It'll kick start things ya know!"

Lisanna folded her arms and huffed in annoyance "Natsu, Mira-nee said you'd try this. She wants us to be done soon since she's paying for the lessons."

Lucy blushed; she remembered Mira warning her that he might pull this stunt. She heard Lisanna sigh and looked at the white-haired beauty. She stood in front of her soon-to-be in-law and went back into a dance position, but had an evil glint in her eye. Quickly Lisanna used the wooden floors feature of sliding to her advantage, and spun Natsu in an uncontrolled manner. Natsu, falling victim to his biggest weakness: motion sickness, was spinning way too fast and couldn't control the situation.

Lucy watched the scene in front of her and shed a sweat drop of awkwardness. She wasn't sure what was happening to be honest, but it was comical. After Natsu's yelping and spinning died down he bent over in an overdramatically hunched position.

"You got your warm up Natsu. Yosh! Let's start!" Lisanna cheered.

Lucy smiled and raised her eyebrow at the comical manner displayed. After Natsu stood back up he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to irritate his childhood friend. He grumbled and went back into position to start dancing. Natsu managed to do the basic steps without any calamities, until Lucy went into the new material for adding a few more steps into the routine, but keeping the pace the same. The pair stumbled a few times, caused by both ends; Lucy could see why Mira only sent these two for lessons.

The lack of focus was in the room too. Obviously Natsu was also thinking about her as much as she was about him. He would gaze at her in the middle of the routine and stumble into Lisanna, or would step on her feet. Lucy found herself tongue-tied whenever she tried to explain a step or move to the both of them; with those black onyx eyes piercing into her soul she couldn't keep track of her train of thought.

Bless her soul when the lesson finally ended. It felt like someone lifted a baby grand piano off her chest. She still felt like she was under pressure as she gave her departing words to Lisanna, but Natsu stayed behind. Natsu's smile though made her heart light and fluttery; as if the piano sitting on it never existed in the first place. He tucked his hands into his pants pocket and walked up to the blonde.

"So…" he started.

"Yeah…" she teased.

"I wanted to book a private lesson for later." Natsu took out one of his hands out of his pocket and scratched his neck in a shy manner.

She blinked a few times before questioning him "Umm… Mira knows about this right?"

"I'm paying for this one, with dinner." He slipped in.

"What time are you thinking of having this lesson?" She asked smiling with her brow raised.

"Come on Luce, shouldn't it be obvious? Dinner time of course!"

"But wait-"

"It's simple; I'll come here at 7 and start our lesson. You don't need to do anything" he reassured and walked to the door not giving her a chance to reply.

Lucy tried, but Natsu ran out the door and she was met with her own company. Her thoughts were blank despite the news she just received. The blackness of her mind faded out with the sound of Loke's custom made dancing shoes hitting the wooden floor.

"You okay?" he asked

Her blank face disappeared and she smiled sweetly at her friend "I'm perfect."

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><p>Night time came sooner in the fall, and even at sunset the brisk chill made everyone hug their coats tighter. Lucy turned on the electric flooring in the studio and rubbed her hands together waiting for the room to heat up. She showered and changed again into tights, but was indecisive if she should up her appearance more. It was a little too late to change her mind because it was almost seven. Anxiously she paced near the mirror and decided to stretch for the 10th time today. While lifting her leg and putting it on the beam to stretch, she almost fell over when she suddenly heard the sound of the door buzzer. The startled blonde saw the familiar goofy grin from outside the door and buzzed him in.<p>

He looked more casual than she did; which made her mentally sigh out in relief. The cold air tickled her bare arm briefly as she saw him walk in carrying two packets. Her eyes loomed from the packets to his black orbs that reflected happiness and excitement. He grinned widely and held up the two packets.

"Chinese for two?" he joked.

She walked to him to peek into the packets and saw a bountiful amount of Chinese takeaway that could feed an entire family. "For two?" she asked in disbelief

He laughed at her reaction "No, I just eat a lot. And we have variety"

She took the packets from him and placed them behind the front desk. Little did her clients know; there was a secret mini fridge behind there along with a microwave. Kinana practically begged her for them. Turning her attention back on Natsu, she noticed he didn't waste any time taking his shoes off to enjoy the heated floors. She listened to the sound of her footsteps of her bare feet against the floor too. She put her hand on her hips ready to start.

"So, where we left off?" she asked

He shook his head "I don't want a tango lesson"

Her mouth formed an 'o' "Sorry, I just assumed… what do you want to learn then?"

He hm'ed and pondered for a moment

"Tap?"

She shook her head this time "I don't teach tap."

"Okay, tell me about the options then."

"Ballet, Tango, Waltz, Contemporary, Fox trot, Ballroom." She listed

He pondered over his choice and brought his hand to his chin poking it "Why don't you pick one for me?"

An evil smiled formed on her face which Natsu regretted to give the power to her.

"Ballet. Let's do ballet"

He put on a nervous smile and stumbled "Uh… you know, the Waltz sounds interesting. I always wanted to learn about the ol' days."

Lucy giggled at him but grabbed his hand and led him to the balancing bar. "It's just one lesson. It won't kill you."

He sighed in defeat and shrugged. "Right, so the very first thing to know about ballet; is your posture." She said placing her right hand on the bar and stood up straight with her posture fully poised from her torso to her shoulders. "Next thing is to place your feet horizontally like so" and she demonstrated.

She stepped out of the position and waved her hand to inform him to copy what she demonstrated. She went back into the position so he could mirror. As he did she noticed he still was slumping with his posture. She walked to his left hand side where his hand was free. She delicately raised her hand and pushed his chest back, and her small fingers tilted his chin. She lined his shoulders correctly and nudged his feet to form a straight horizontal line. He wobbled slightly and nervously laughed.

"You really have to balance" he observed.

"That's one of the things. You have to train your feet to not make a misstep. Right, next is some stretches. Just copy me and I'll adjust your stance."

He took a step back to watch as her right hand grabbed the beam and her right leg lifted up and was placed on the beam. She stretching her right arm to touch the tip of her foot and bringing in her torso to stretch too. Afterwards she stood in front of the mirror and beam and placed both hands on the bar, she then moved her legs apart and did a half-squat but held in the position for a minute. Her left leg hurt slightly under the pressure. And finally she moved to the last stretch which was a simple lunge position, both backwards and forwards. Natsu followed her lead in the sequence of stretches and felt that his flexibility was very poor and his lack of instruction terrible since Lucy had to help him. To be honest; Natsu just pretended to be terrible, the sly dog…

She proceeded onto the actual lesson even though Natsu complained about the stretching; they hadn't even done the hard stuff yet. She started Natsu off with a simple plié which was similar to one of the stretching exercises they did. Putting her right hand again on the bar and keeping her feet in a horizontal line she descended, bending her knee and making the lower part of her legs hold her body firmly.

"I want you to do exactly that for five minutes" she instructed.

"Seems easy enough" he mumbled to himself.

He grabbed the bar and copied her movement she demonstrated. He went down as she did and felt his muscles burn as he continued. He stood upright without hesitation, looking bewildered.

"You want me to do that for five minutes?!" he yelled in shock.

She laughed "Not so easy is it?" she mocked. He growled in response.

"Fine fine I'll give you two"

He looked hesitantly back at the bar and looked at himself in the mirror as if he was peering into his own soul. He grabbed the bar and recited the movements again. He descended again and ignored the weird feeling his thighs and calves were getting. After the first 30 seconds he was ready to give up. His face turned red on 1 and a half and once she called for time he dramatically fell on the floor. Lucy honestly didn't think it would be that bad.

"Maybe I'm not cut out for ballet" he joked whilst lying on the floor looking up to the ceiling. Even though he couldn't see it she nodded in agreement.

"Yosh!" he shouted jolting up in a sitting position "Dinner time!"

She rolled her eyes and went behind the counter to put the food in the micro wave. The smell of the heated food caused her stomach to grumble loudly, making Natsu chuckle. Handing him a heated box of chow Mein and chop sticks, he plonked himself against the wall without a bar and started to chow down. She sat next to him observing his messy eating, which scared her slightly.

He slurped his noodle and noticed her reaction.

"Sorry… My dad always said I had a big mouth for eating and talking"

"Well, he knows his son best" she teased while breaking her chop sticks into two and proceeded to eat her own meal.

"Not funny" he pouted "My dad always liked to tease me. He was a really funny guy though." Natsu smiled sadly.

"Was?" she inquired.

He stopped smiling and stared at his food, the silence made Lucy regret asking but he looked back up into her brown eyes "He was a high ranking soldier and he went MIA for over 10 years."

Her mouth went dry; she honestly didn't know how to respond even though many words popped in her mind.

"It's fine really. I just wanted to let you know." He smiled slightly at her. "I want to you to know me before… ya know" he said blushing.

What she feared came true after that.

"I want to learn about you too." He added.

She snapped "No, you don't."

He looked dumbfounded "What do you mean?"

She really thought she could do this. With every bone in her body she wanted to tell him everything and cry on his shoulder and hear about his past, ambitions, futures, dreams, fears, everything. But she couldn't bring herself to tell him all of those things about herself, her past especially. She couldn't handle remembering them never mind sharing them with him. The words were coming from another mind but exiting her mouth, she couldn't stop.

"I don't want you to learn about me."

"Huh? What are talking about? I mean, yeah, it's scary to getting closer but if we want to continue with this relationship we have to-"

"Then I guess it ends here." She interrupted. Her yelling couldn't be heard through her mind. The silence proved that, and his stare that described what an unbelievable thing was occurring. She covered her mouth trying to undo it all and finally said something she thought of.

"I… I didn't mean that. I just, need some time to think." she held her head in her palm listening to his breathing.

"Please" she begged.

He lifted himself off the ground and looked at her with a mixture of sadness and confusion.

"I'll be off then." He said, taking the remainder of food behind the counter, he buzzed himself out.

She watched his body walk into the darkness of night until she couldn't see him anymore. She brought her legs to her chest and hid her face.

"Why? Why did I do that?"

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><p><em><strong>Heart skipped a beat. And when I caught it you were out of reach. But I'm sure, I'm sure you've heard it before.<strong>_

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><p><strong>Short AN: Will be updating the other chapters as fast as I can. I'm just super busy for the next few days.<strong>

**I'm going to South Africa's Geekfest this saturday! Which is like the American comic-con I guess… oh and I'll be cosplaying as Juvia hehehe!**

**Anyway, review and I might make my Juvia cosplay outfit my author photo!**

**Or just Review because you like the story, either one! (^v^)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Jan had been a pretty good Month, sorry for not updating in a while but a lot has happened. My cousin moved back to my hometown so I'm over the moon, she's like my best friend. I also didn't have data for the internet. But I've been writing a lot, so Feb is going to be full of updates.**

**Note: The B/N is my Beta's notes not mine. Just in case some get confused.**

**Enjoy ^v^**

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><p>The first snow had finally arrived. Sprinkling little flakes dropped down, floating ever so elegantly. Soon a light white blanket formed over the town and the sound of awe was apparent. The small dance studio in the middle of the town was still busy with business despite the weather. The heated floors of the studio drew in people like a moth to the flame.<p>

Many people were outside too, giggling children threw lumps of snow at one another and many snowmen stood on the sidewalks. The childish antics of grown adults were flourishing and to be expected from some people, they thought they were going to see a pink haired man play in the snow too…

No. For a fact he wasn't.

Natsu Dragneel was; to put it gently, following someone.

His back was pressed against a wall of a certain dance studio, patiently waiting for a plan to form in his head. He was in all honestly; a total mess, considering as he always tried to keep his life simple. But that wasn't possible ever since he met the very blonde inside the building. She was weird, no doubt about it, but the certain sparkle in those dull eyes of hers gave him the impression that she was a fighter. Deep down laid her happiness, and he wanted to bring it out for good.

She had definitely surprised him a few days ago when she acted so coldly after he had told her he wanted to get to know her. She had regretted her words as soon as she snapped, but it had been days since they had last spoken. Natsu was getting restless. He peeked inside to only see Lucy come out of the changing rooms, she was a stunning sight. Aside from her tone figure in tights, she was wearing jeans and snugging jacket.

Natsu jumped slightly and got panicky by the attire which clearly indicated she was coming outside and he had blown his cover. He looked in several directions for a place where she wouldn't spot him when she got out, so with no other option he ran into the store next door. The pinkette stumbled into the business and ducked under the window. As he saw the top of her head pass he sighed in relief. The pinkette laughed slightly nervously then into a huge psychotic laugh.

A cough interrupted him.

His head snapped forward to see multiple eyes staring at him and many frowning. His eyes looked around and he finally came to the realisation that the place he had managed to hide in was a funeral home. Without hesitation Natsu got out of there and sighed loudly.

He looked up to the sign and mumbled "How did I not notice this was here before?"

He looked in the direction that the blonde walked and sighed in relief; she had disappeared from his sight.

Why so?

The pink haired boy went into the dance studio and shook the snow off his boots by the entrance. He cautiously walked to the front desk where a half-time-receptionist-other-time-bar maiden was. She lifted her head and smiled.

"Hi there, do you have an appointment?" she asked sweetly.

His black orbs scanned his surroundings "Uhhh no, I was hoping I could speak to Loke?"

"And why's that?" a familiar males voice appeared.

Natsu swore he was about to punch him in the face from the shock. After spinning around at ferocious speed the pinkette saw the ginger haired man looking more confused than annoyed like he had when he had seen him all the times before.

"I wanted to speak about-" He was cut off when Loke lifted his hand.

"Let's talk somewhere else. Hope you like trekking in the snow." Loke said putting on his coat and opening the door waiting for the pinkette to move.

Natsu stuffed his hands in his pockets and stiffly moved into the brisk cold. Loke closed the door and walked the opposite direction Lucy went earlier. Natsu just followed and waited for Loke to speak.

But they kept walking in silence which was killing Natsu.

"Dude, when can we talk?" Natsu said annoyed.

Loke stopped abruptly which caused Natsu to walk into his back. Loke stopped in the middle of an eerie part of the town which worried Natsu to the point where he thought Loke was going to kill him and bury him somewhere.

"Lucy told me what happened" he said leaning on a pole.

Natsu didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if he had done something wrong to make Lucy so tense and anti-social.

"Don't worry; I know it's not your fault. But you have to realise that that girl is really damaged so I wouldn't peg the blame on her too." He explained.

Natsu sighed in irritation "I wanted to try asking you if there's anything I should know about her. I feel like I've walked into a dead end."

Loke smiled. The first Natsu's seen. "You haven't. I don't want to tell you anything personal so take this and find out for yourself." He dug in his pocket and handed Natsu a piece of paper with two addresses on it.

Loke patted Natsu's shoulder and walked past him.

"Did you two have a thing?" Natsu turned around and asked quickly.

Loke stopped and didn't move "I did but…"

"She didn't" Natsu finished in a sad tone.

Loke turned around showing half his face "She means a lot to me. She saved my life and reunited me and my wife. I really want her to be happy, so don't screw this up."

Natsu smiled a toothy grin and raised his right arm and curled his fingers into his palm except for his thumb and index finger. The gingered hair man smirked and copied the hand sign and walked away.

Natsu dropped his arm and kept staring at the silhouette walking away. Once it disappeared the young man's slightly cold hands opened the piece of paper again.

"_**Go to this address first."**_ Was the first thing he read and the address next to it was…

The Heartfilia estate of Konzern.

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><p>The train ride was hell.<p>

Natsu couldn't belief he had the will to step into the metal trap of nausea. The bumps and jolts made the foul liquid bile rise further up his body and every stop at a station made him moan in relief at the lack of movement. His eyes never left the window, watching the station names pass by. By the time his stop came he had to regain his sense of balance and stop hi head from spinning so he could walk in a straight line.

As he got of the death cart he wobbled his way out the station and headed to a directories station. The elderly lady behind the desk stared at his fading green complexion in shock.

"Y-yes sir, how can I help you?" she asked

Natsu's green tinge finally disappeared and he let out a sigh of relief "Yeah, can you point me to where the Heartfilia estate is."

The lady stared at him like he was the crazy. She gulped and shakily replied "Heartfilia estate? Why on earth would you go there?"

His eyebrow raised in speculation. He looked down at the note Loke gave him and looked back up to the lady "I'm meeting someone there. Is something the matter?"

"Um, not really. It's just… ever since the owner sold the place it's been taken over by a lot of nasty fellows. The mansion is still intact but the rest is quiet run down."

"Well I was told through this note to head to the mansion so no worries. So, which direction can I start walking?"

She adjusted herself to the window besides her and raised her hands to the mountain. "If you go towards those mountains the entrance is at the base. Walk to the edge of town and you'll see the mansion." Natsu smiled at the lady and proceeded to start his walk to the Estate.

He walked quickly and hastily to the mountain base. With the backpack he brought from home he reached for any liquid to quench his thirst. Once he saw the Gate entrance to the city he went into a sprint wanting to quicken the pace of his journey. Stopping by the gate he noticed the town had been exactly what the lady said it would be. The town buildings, as Natsu could see, were built sturdy and still standing, although the caretaking of it was poor and vile. The town was littered and trashed everywhere and the smell wasn't so pleasant either.

Natsu slowly walked through the town and observed that even he was disgusted, his room may have been filthy… but this… this was way worse.

Many curious and vigilant eyes followed his body as he walked deeper in the town. Another set were not as innocent as others. Some large men came out of the buildings and slowly started to surround the rosy haired man. Natsu's eyes darted back and forth and he shifted his body into a battle stance preparing to fight.

As he was surrounded he heard one of them asking a question "What you doing here sonny?" he snarled.

Natsu scowled "I'm heading toward the Mansion."

They all laughed, some of them were almost crying from laughter. Natsu was mad.

The Pinkette took flight to the nearest guy and grabbed his collar.

"Don't screw with me you bastards!"

The sudden action caused the men to quiet down and inch forward angrily to Natsu. The same man spoke up again.

"No one goes there. It belongs to the state boyo. Why do you want to head there?"

Natsu shoved the man back and let go of his collar. His dark Irises looked at the paper and back up to the man.

"Layla Heartfilia. I'm looking for Layla Heartfilia."

The wind whistled though the mountain crags that surrounded the town. Cohesively the gathered men's breaths stopped, Natsu's eyes daggered to the lot for the sudden quietness.

A lone man stepped forward "I can take you to her." He said.

Natsu nodded and noticed the circle that surrounded him had turned parted so the two of them could head to the mansion. As the man was leading Natsu further in, the conditions of the town looked better by each building they passed. Natsu didn't say much and neither did the man except when they passed the untamed gardens that seemed to once be well-maintained, to announce that they were at the mansion.

Natsu headed towards the steps until he was interrupted by the man's cough. "No, this way. She's over here" he pointed.

Natsu jolted down the stairs and turned the corner. He looked in the direction the man was pointing and his steps had slowed down to a complete stop. Natsu's irises shrunk in shock and his mouth became dry.

"What's going on here?" Natsu choked out.

In front of him was a magnificent statue of an angel with her hands holding onto her garments and her arms lying next to her body on either side, whilst her magnificent wings were high above her head spread abroad. That didn't surprise him, no; it was the gold inscription below it,

LAYLA HEATFILIA

1979-2008

WIFE AND MOTHER DEARLY LOVED

AND NEVER FOGOTTEN

"Why? Why did you send me here Loke?" Natsu trembled.

The man looked at Natsu's expression, his own face painted with a frown.

"Maybe some explanation is due here. I don't know who you speak of but if you do know the Heartfilia's then it's possible they didn't tell you about this." He explained.

Natsu stopped his actions to listen to the man. The expression he gave off was more saddening than despair itself, it made Natsu shiver.

"I once worked at this household. It was the best job I could've ask for, even though I didn't have the best position. The lady of the house was lovely and kind; the husband was just and fair. And the daughter was a friend to all. I don't know what happened, but the mistress died and the master sold his whole life to the state and move as far away from this place taking. We had thought the little one died too but it turned out she was alive. None of us have seen either ever since."

Natsu nodded at his explanation and was deep in thought and it brought out a thought in his mind "What happened?" he asked himself.

"That, I wish I knew." The man answered.

Natsu's hand returned to his pocket to check for any clues in the damn note Loke gave him. The same thing appeared on the note as before, somehow Natsu was hoping magically it would have more information. He sighed in defeat and looked at the second address.

He shoved the note back in his pocket and adjusted his backpack to walk back to the train station.

The man waved the pinkette off as he walked out the estate.

...

Natsu took a deep breath at the sight before him. The address was exactly what he feared; Magnolia hospital. He had taken many trips here before when he was a kid. Either it was a dislocation, broken bone, sprained ankles or there was the time Gray dared him to eat stones. He remembered getting out the hospital with a smile on his face though so he could continue to be a kid.

The hospital was the only big hospital around. Come to think of it; Konzern's closest hospital was here too. That was a coincidence that never left the rosy haired man's thoughts.

With one final look at the note he read _**"Make sure not to come at visiting hours"**_

Natsu wasn't sure what he meant, but he could get an idea now. His legs itched for him to go in, but he had come at a visiting hour so he decided to wait, which luckily, was only an hour. The sky was dimming down as evening came, and the minutes went by slowly. Just before the minute struck to end the hour Natsu's face turned toward the door picking up a familiar head of hair and a very, very familiar face.

Before thinking he dashed to the bushes to hide. His sharp eyes peered outside his hiding spot and confirmed his suspicion of whom he saw; Lucy. Her undeniable beauty was recognisable from miles away. Even at her worst he can see so many traces of her strength which never fails to make her more beautiful on the inside than the outside. The sad frown he saw when she was tearing him away and proceeding to make him impatient to get down to the mystery know as Lucy Heartfilia.

Once she left by Taxi Natsu leaped out of his hiding spot covered in nature but uncaring as he is he continued to walk into the hospital full of leaves and twigs. True to say he was noticed by many patients and nurses, the sick children certainly were cheered up.

He huffed when he got to the front desk and the head nurse was most certainly disturbed. "Y-yes sir, how can I help you?"

"Is there anyone here under the name Heartfilia?"

Her eyes looked down to the list and looked back to him "There is a Mr Jude Heartfilia. But visiting hours are over." She said harshly.

"I know, but it's an emergency."

His pleading eyes made her heart soften. "What's your relation to him?"

Natsu panicked. He had concluded that this Jude was Lucy's father, so there was only one way in. "Umm… I'm his Son in-law"

The nurse looked surprised "Well why didn't you say that in the first place. Take this pass and go to Ward C, his room is the Third one." She said handing him the pass.

He smiled extremely brightly and took off but stopped at the nurse's voice "I suggest you tidy up before you see your father in-law." She joked.

She had a point as he didn't even stop to think of his appearance. He gave her thumbs up and ran to Ward C while shaking all the leaves and twigs off. Near Ward C he tidied up in front of the mirror and quickly entered it. He flashed the pass to the one Nurse as he proceeded to the desk. The small Blue headed nurse behind the desk had a very sisterly vibe from her that he couldn't resist smiling at her. Once he explained she led him into the room to check if Jude was awake.

"Sorry Jude-san but you have another visitor. He says it's quite urgent." The small nurse said sweetly.

"Fine fine, let him in."

She disappeared and let Natsu in. She went back to the desk at Natsu's request while he spoke to Jude. He took a breath in and walked into his line of sight. Natsu had caught sight of the man and felt a bit intimidated by his appearance. And he was in a hospital bed for Pete's sake.

The older man looked at him sceptically "Boy, I have no clue who you are. What's the meaning of this visit." He said in his low voice making Natsu even more afraid.

Natsu coughed "Well, it's about your daughter sir." He shakily replied.

Jude raised his eyebrow "What about her? She just left so I don't know what you're getting at. What's your relation with her?"

Natsu gulped and mumbled "You only live once." He said to himself.

His dark orbs looked up to the blonde haired man "Well sir, I'm going to be straight with you. I've gotten to know your daughter for a while now and well, I want to be the man by her side. She unfortunately doesn't want me to know anything about her and chased me away." **[B/N: KYAAAA! SO CUTE NATSU!]**

After the explanation Natsu shut his eyes tightly; ready to be yelled at but it didn't come "I see" was all he heard.

He opened his eyes to see the old man smiling sadly. "That's just like her." He continued.

A long silence fell between them until Jude looked up to Natsu "Well don't just stand there, take a seat."

Natsu jumped and scrambled to the chair next to the older gentleman and sat as if he was at school seeing the principal.

"Well since you're the only brave soul to declare your feeling for my daughter; I guess you deserve to know."

He took a big sigh before starting "We lived quite happily at Konzern for many years. Since she was a small girl Lucy was dancing and my wife and I always encouraged her to the fullest. By the time Lucy was in her early teens she and her mother got into a tragic accident… It cost my wife her life and Lucy broke her leg."

Natsu thought he was going to faint from the lack of air he was breathing. He didn't want any distractions. "I'm sorry for your loss" he said

Jude waved it off "Shortly after her death I sold my mansion and business to live in Hargeon with Lucy after her leg healed. She tried to go to lessons but her leg held her back. I tried to push her too and she only retreated. By the time she ended high school her and her partner Yukino were offered an overseas contract. Lucy… retreated at the last minute and asked if she could open a business in Magnolia. And I moved here too to keep an eye on her."

"She was afraid." Natsu whispered.

Jude nodded "She's probably afraid of you too boy." He stated.

Natsu brought his hand to his face and groaned.

"I guess I might have contributed to this." Jude added "She's lost so much and I myself have come out of an accident and have become paralyzed."

Natsu's eyes widened and his mouth became dry "She needs you boy… I ask one thing of you. Don't give up on her, push her towards her dreams" Jude concluded.

Natsu nodded "I promise"

Natsu's ear picked up on a noise by the door and snapped his sight to the location to see the very person he had been avoiding the whole day.

Lucy.

"What are you doing here?"

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><p><em><strong>Should I give up? <strong>_

_**Or should I just keep chasing pavements**_

_**Even if it leads nowhere?**_

_**Or would it be a waste, even if know my place?**_

_**Should I leave it there?**_

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><p><strong>Thank you for everyone's patience! I only got a heap of inspiration lately so I'm sorry for the delay.<strong>

**To let you guys in that I added a feature to the story now. At the end of each chapter you'll see a song quote that appropriately fits each chapter. I updated the previous chapters so check it out.**

**I think this is the best chapter I've done so far for this story and I hope everyone enjoyed it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi all so Back on her Feet is back with another update.**

**I AM SO SORRY FOR BEING SO LATE ON THIS UPDATE! Inspiration has been awful and other bad things snuck into my life but I'm getting my ass in gear so no worries on updates, they'll eventually come.**

**I feel pumped up for July. By then it'll be winter here in South Africa and we'll be having our Geekfest too! My Beta is coming too! Gahh! And I'm going as Katniss Everdeen and she's going as Lucy. I CAN NOT WAIT!**

**Kay okay you can read now…**

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><p><em>Natsu's ear picked up on a noise by the door and snapped his sight to the location to see the very person he had been avoiding the whole day.<em>

_Lucy._

"_What are you doing here?_

He was frozen were he stood, his eyes widened at seeing the blonde by the doorway. Her expression was livid and ready to detonate in the matter of seconds. She was still as radiant as ever to him.

Boy if she looked this attractive every time she was angry he would break every rule available. His thoughts besides her looks was nowhere to befound, he couldn't find an excuse needed for the situation. His mind wouldn't allow it. He was screaming at himself internally. Thankfully Jude was there to say something.

"Lucy dear, did you forget something?"

Her angry eyes darted to her father and the fieriness never died down. Natsu was sure he may have crossed every forbidden line by visiting her father today. Natsu stood up from his seat to explain. He felt himself freeze when the girl in front of him, instead of glaring at him with her brown doe eyes, crystal blue dews sprung in each corner making her eyes sparkle. The tears slipped out as she looked at the two men in front of her.

She turned on her heel and ran.

The pinkette didn't process things until the blonde male next to him yelled at him. "Chase after her boy!" he growled.

Natsu jumped and panicked, leaving the room as he was ordered. Sprinting down the white ward halls he couldn't spot where she was. He looked around his shoulder in case she gave him the slip. Groaning in frustration he finally decided to head straight for the front entrance. As he got closer he finally spotted some blonde hair and picked up speed.

Finally, she came into his view as they were by the exit. She moved around other people with ease and he tried to mimic her actions. He, although, wasn't as graceful as her since he almost knocked a few people off their feet.

He followed her out to the snowy parking lot. The snow was falling softly adding on to the white blanket. She kept running and he kept yelling out for her to stop, he picked up his speed to at least grab her by the arm. She looked over her shoulder and panicked, her leg was aching badly now and she was sure she would slip soon.

She was right.

Her bad leg betrayed her, for it had disconnected itself from the icy ground sending her backwards. She shut her eyes tight for the impact but instead of feeling the cold hard ground, warm strong arms encircled her waist, catching her safely.

Pulling her back on her feet her face was hidden from his sight, he could only assume she was embarrassed and angry. But from what she did just now from running after her should be reason enough for him to be ticked off too. His breath was short and the great intakes of the brisk cold air were refreshing but tightened his throat slightly. He wouldn't let her go anywhere with his iron grip on her arm. She did tug a few times but gave up until his breath was back. He sure was unfit…

"Lucy… why… why did you…?" he finally said regaining his breath

She finally turned to him, ready to scream but couldn't, she could only let the floodgates open. His face softened and he ruffled her hair gently. The action made her cry more, she then started laughing like a crazy woman.

"I… really hate myself you know." She said gasping for air.

Natsu didn't know what to say to that, or really what to do. Before he could open his mouth she carried on.

"I hate myself so much for being so cowardly; for pushing my family away, friends… you."

An awkward silence filled the air and the sun had already set, the lamps of the street lights and one in particular shun above the two. Her nose was slightly pink from the cold and her eyelashes were collecting snow. He thought she looked so perfect; he wasn't a person who usually noticed these things, if he were a few years younger all he would think about a girl was if she could hold her own in a fight. Well the only girl he fought with was Erza…

Getting to know the blonde in front of him in such a short amount of time, he has seen so many things. She can be short tempered, cheerful, depressed, bashful, and excitable and so much more. But what he saw from the beginning was fragility. The things she's been through, who could blame her? She wasn't weak, just worn down. She's simply near exhaustion and though she didn't show it, she was waiting for someone to pick her up and help her move forward.

The cold was getting too much for the two. His hand grabbed hers and entangled his fingers between hers.

"You're cold. Let's get you home." He said.

She mumbled an okay but held onto his warm hand tight. She walked slower than he did due to her leg that got slightly affected by her near accident. Much to his dismay he hailed a taxi to take them to the studio.

Getting out quickly, the pinkette ran to the other side to open the blonde's door and walk her to it. She stopped by the door and stood there still, he looked at her perplexed as she stood motionless. After a minute she opened the shop and turned around to look at the confused male behind her.

"I… want to warn you. This is your last chance to leave. Walking in here and listening to me doesn't include a walking away and never seeing me again pass."

Her brown orbs shined with firmness and stubbornness, something he could relate too. He smiled at her toothily "Any sane man who went through what I went through today would've ran for the hills a long time ago. I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled and opened the door to the studio, feeling the warm air inside hit her face. She turned on the light and hung her coat up before placing herself on the oh-so wonderfully heated floor. She lifted her knees up and hugged them while observing the pink haired boy settling down across her. He blew away a piece of hair in his face and waited for her to start.

She hugged her legs tighter and sighed "So, how did you find out about my dad?"

He paused slightly thinking if he should mention Loke. Although Loke didn't say not to mention him…

"It was Loke wasn't it?" she interrupted his thoughts.

He let out a nervous laugh without knowing, confirming her accusation.

She groaned and hid her face behind her knees. He wasn't sure what to say at the moment, staying quiet was his best option.

"What else did he tell you?" she peeked at him from her position.

He straightened his back and explained to her of his day and how he was told to go to Konzern to find out things on his own without Loke actually saying anything. He wasn't sure what was going through her head while he explained. Her expression stayed the same right through to what he was told by her father. After finishing he looked at her waiting for her to say something.

She looked close to crying but held it in and sighed sadly.

"You might as well hear the story completed."

Natsu cheered internally when the stubborn blonde finally gave up. She decided to get up from her sitting position and held her finger up showing him he should wait. She darted up her stairs and the ruffling up there was loud enough for him to hear. After the loud sounds she came back downstairs and sat herself down, not in the spot she was in earlier, but next to him.

She had a colourful book in her arms and she plonked it in front of them. His eyes went to the title that showed it was a college yearbook. He looked to her with a blank look on his face, Lucy's face was slightly red at the realisation of how close they were.

"Umm…" she mumbled embarrassedly.

Natsu noticed how close they were but refused to budge, which made her red "An-anyway, this is my college yearbook from when I went to Crocus U."

Natsu's eyes widened. Any university in Crocus was definitely expensive, not to mention for those of a high honour. He realised he shouldn't be surprised since her dad had a wad of cash on him due to his business.

Lucy opened the book which still looked very new; she flipped the pages until she came to the one she was looking for. He looked down at a group photo with her in it as well as another girl that looked familiar.

"You knew Yukino?" he asked.

She thought she heard wrong but the fact he knew her name gave her a shock.

"_You_ know her?" she asked.

The two surprised faces stared at each other. Natsu looked down at the page to check if it was in fact the same Yukino he knows.

"Yeah… She's Sting's girlfriend."

This was certainly new news to Lucy's ears.

"How's that possible? She's lives overseas." She stated

"Yeah Luce, haven't you ever heard of long distance relationships?" he said jokingly.

She stared at the page ignoring his joke. Complying a clear explanation she looked back in to his onyx eyes.

Memorized by her gaze he managed to mumble some words to divert them "So… how do you know her?"

She embarrassedly looked away from him and back to the page she opened. The memories flooded back to her and the bile in her throat rose like she had a bad case of food poisoning.

"She was my contemporary dance partner throughout my first three years of college. We were planning on building a dance company afterwards, but we had a falling out."

"What happened?" he asked.

She ran her fingers through her blonde locks that appeared less shiny to her. The stress had really gotten to her the past few days. "Okay, we didn't really have a falling out. Umm… I… chickened out." She said quickly.

Natsu looked at her ashamed face, her eyes refusing to meet his. He smiled and let his hand rest on top of hers, encouraging her to carry on.

She sighed heavily "My Leg gave me a lot of hassle in college and I couldn't perform to the best of my ability. One day a talent scout came in and offered us a dancing tour nationally and internationally. Yukino and I finished our 3rd year of college and started to prep."

Her hand reached her forehead to wipe the beads of sweat off. Her bangs were messed up and untamed, the stress had been rough on her today.

"The day before our flight I ran home to my dad in Hargeon and left a note for Yukino at our apartment, telling her I can't go through with it. As far as I know she left and got a new partner overseas…"

The tension in the air felt easier on the blonde, she let her body lie on the floor and sighed. She giggled softly whilst folding her arms over her head to conceal her eyes.

"I'm an idiot, aren't I?" she asked aloud, not caring whether it was rhetorical or not.

He answered anyway "Are you referring to the past or present?"

She removed her arms and sat up to look at him seriously "The past." She said angrily.

He lifted his eyebrow sceptically, almost saying aloud _'Are you serious?'_

Her eyes sparked at his gaze, something he said livened her definitely "Would you like to say something?" she said in an annoyed tone.

That didn't make him happy.

"Luce, you've been kinda acting like an idiot lately too. You're worrying everyone around you and brush it off like it's nothing. Not to mention chasing me away."

Her face was a mixture of disbelief and anger, the spark in her eye was ignited and boy was it burning.

"I'm sorry but my personal problems have nothing to do with you. You wanted to stick your nose in and I simply didn't want it there." She tried to say calmly.

He got to his feet in a huff but sarcastically laughed. "Um Heartfilia, as I recall I shared something personal with you. Motivation to start something more than a friendship, although I doubt you want the same thing when you snapped at me."

After his short rant Lucy abruptly stood up as well "NOT TRUE! FINE! I'm an idiot! Or rather a mess! My fear of failing has stopped me for the last ten years… I can't keep my own life together, so how could I possibly keep a relationship?!" her spark was alive and well for what Natsu could see.

He smiled slightly and walked up to the emotional blonde. "You know, I can understand where you're coming from. Ever since I was born I wasn't wanted by anyone, even the man who opened his home to me ran off somewhere. I thought I had some bad omen or something. Luce, we may be the short ends of the stick, but that doesn't mean we can't turn things around."

His smile was so warm, so happy, and so contagious; before she knew it she was slightly smiling herself. His soothing voice spoke up again.

"So you say you can't keep your life together eh? Let's start there then." He declared.

Lucy's face was definitely dumbfounded and puzzled "Um excuse me?"

Natsu smiled widely at her, excitement in his eyes.

"We're gonna reboot your dancing career!"

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><p><em>And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back<em>

_So Shake him Off._

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><p><strong>So Sorry for the shortness. <strong>

**I'm pacing the story as long as I can and some scenes come out shorter than I hoped for.**

**Need some inspiration badly! Gaaaaah!**

**Help a friend out and leave a review c;**


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